News that will delight children in lockdown: the Easter Bunny will be on duty this Easter, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed.

In today's press conference, the Prime Minister clarified that both the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are both essential workers delivering essential services and, as such, continue to operate throughout the alert level 4 lockdown.

The Easter Bunny is exempt and is allowed to break the bubble to visit Kiwi households.

However, there is a chance the bunny might not be able to visit everyone.

"As you can imagine at this time they're going to be potentially quite busy at home with their own bunnies and so I say to the children of New Zealand: if the Easter Bunny doesn't make it to your household, we have to understand it's a bit difficult at the moment for the bunny to get everywhere," Ardern said.

However, the Prime Minister suggested that "maybe in lieu of the bunny being able to make it to your home, you can create your own easter hunt for all the children in your neighbourhood".

"Maybe draw an easter egg and pop it on your front window and help the children in your neighbourhood with their own Easter egg hunt because the Easter Bunny might not make it everywhere this year."

This article was first published on the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.